Ever since I was a young boy, I have enjoyed reading. My mom, noticing that, bought a subscription to the Mexican version of Reader’s Digest, or “Selecciones” (Reader’s Digest México) for me. “La risa, remedio infallible” (Laughter is the Best Medicine) and “Citas citables” (Quotable Quotes) became my favorite sections.
Here is a collection of quotes that have provided perspective, inspiration, and direction during different points of my life and career. Enjoy!
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“Great talkers are little doers.”
—Benjamin Franklin (& Dutch Proverb)
“Anger manages everything badly.”
—Publius Papinius Statius (Roman poet)
“Those who follow the crowd are quickly lost in it.”
—anonymous
“Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure.”
—Edward Eggleston, American historian and novelist
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
—Lao-Tzu, a philosopher and poet of ancient China (father of Taoism)
“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”
—Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, a French playwright and actor
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
—Socrates (sometimes incorrectly attributed to Plato)
“It would be an inconvenient rule if nothing could be done until everything can be done.”
—Winston Churchill
“Where one door shuts another opens.”
—Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who is regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists
“There is a better way for everything. Find it.”
—Thomas Edison
“I praise loudly, I blame softly.”
—Catherine II (the Great) of Russia
“If people speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them.”
—Plato, a philosopher and mathematician in Classical Greece, and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world
“Thank not those faithful who praise all your words and actions, but those who kindly reprove your faults.”
—Plato
“Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
—Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work, humorist of the Silver Age of Latin literature
“Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.”
—John Herschel, an English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer, who also did valuable botanical work
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
—Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition
“There’s no disloyalty in honesty.”
—Mike Murphy, a Republican political consultant, entertainment industry writer, and producer
“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961
“Those who would bring great things to pass must rise early. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty.”
—Matthew Henry, a Welsh-born or British Non-Conformist minister and author
Albert Einstein’s view on atheism:
“I’m not an atheist and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangements of the books, but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.”
“Drop the question of what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you.”
—Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus
“Better to be despised for anxious apprehensions, than to be ruined by too confident a security.”
—Edmund Burke, Irish orator, philosopher, & politician
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
—Sir Winston Churchill, during his first speech as prime minister to the House of Commons
“Debt is the worst poverty.”
—Thomas Fuller, an English churchman and historian
“The only people who never fail are those who never try.”
—Ilka Chase, an American actress, radio host, and novelist
“Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”
—Dalai Lama, a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism. The current and 14th Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso
“Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.”
—Jonathan Kozol, a Rhodes Scholar, former fourth grade teacher, and a passionate advocate for child-centered learning. He remains one of the most widely read and highly honored education writers in the nation
“If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of other people.”
—Oriental Proverb
“He that is taught by himself has a fool for a master.”
—Ben Jonson, an English playwright and poet. Jonson’s artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
—Henry Ford
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
—André Paul Guillaume Gide, a French author, and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. This particular quotation is drawn from the “Steeler Lecture,” one of five lectures that Dr. King delivered in November 1967 at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama
“The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey Jr., an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet and educator
“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.”
—Helen Keller, an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer
“To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.”
—Plutarch, a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them, e.g. men become builders by building and lyreplayers by playing the lyre; so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
—Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
—Helen Keller
“The secret of life is not to do what you like, but to like what you do.”
—American Proverb
“Perish discretion when it interferes with duty.”
—Hannah More, an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet, and playwright
“The defect of equality is that we only desire it with our superiors.”
—Henry Becque, a French dramatist
“There is the greatest practical benefit in making a few failures early in life.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley, an English biologist and anthropologist specializing in comparative anatomy
“Poverty is hard, but debt is horrible.”
—Charles H. Spurgeon, a world-renowned preacher coming from a Reformed Baptist tradition. He was called the “Prince of Preachers”
“It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.”
—Thomas Fuller, an English churchman and historian
“The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is of all things most shameful and vile.”
—Plato, a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning on the European continent
“He who finds pleasure in vice and pain in virtue, is still novice in both.”
—Chinese Proverb
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
—Sir Winston Churchill
“It’s no good saying one thing and thinking another.”
—Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, a British writer who is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, while retaining a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers
“It is wrong to sorrow without ceasing.”
—Homer, a Greek poet who was the legendary author to whom the authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey is attributed. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time
“There is not any advantage to be won from grim lamentation.”
—Homer
“No one chases evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”
—Mary Wollstonecraft, a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights
“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”
—Lucius Anneaus Seneca
“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.”
—François Auguste René Rodin, a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and, most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”
—Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, was Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labeled “the greatest” by FIFA
“Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.”
—Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC, an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He was also known as Lord Verulam
“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.”
—Kahlil Gibran
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”
—Rene Descartes
“It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.”
—John Maynard Keynes
“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.”
—James Russell Lowell
“Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but it only takes one to burn it.”
—Julia Child
“We can have more or less success in our lives, but in the end, it all comes down to who we are as people. I don’t like false pretenses. I choose to be open and treat everyone equally. It takes so little to be kind.”
—Novak Djokovic, one of the best tennis players in history
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
—Winston Churchill
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
—Maya Angelou
“While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.”
—Gerald W. Grumet
“Las personas inteligentes son capaces de simplificar lo complejo; los tontos, en cambio, suelen complicar lo sencillo.”
—Gerald W. Grumet
“Taming the Bureaucrat”
Gerald W. Grumet, M.D. is a psychiatrist in Rochester, NY who found himself increasingly ensnarled in paperwork as the era of Managed Care began to take hold in the 1980’s. Minor bookkeeping chores which had previously taken minutes began to consume hours. While most physicians use professional billing clerks to interact with health insurers, Grumet put himself on the front lines, doing his own clerical chores in search for answers. His research led him to conclude that the central problem of bureaucracy is the rigid or obsessional personalities that form the functional core of advanced societies.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
—Calvin Coolidge
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.”
—Edward R. Murrow
“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight” (Proverbs 12:22).
”Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
—Carl Bard
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
—Winston Churchill
“All things are difficult before they are easy.”
—Thomas Fuller
“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
—Desiderius Erasmus
“The first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean, by humility, doubt of his own power….[But really] great men have a curious feeling that greatness is not in them, but through them…And they see something Divine in every other man…, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”
—John Ruskin, English Author
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero
“In a global economy, knowledge may be a company’s greatest competitive advantage.”
—Larry Prusak and Thomas Davenport, “Working Knowledge”
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
—Steve Jobs
“Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by traveling.”
—Miguel de Unamuno
“The noblest revenge is to forgive.”
—Thomas Fuller
“Developing accountability and practice of reporting will advance ownership more than almost anything.”
—Scott Pulsipher, President of Western Governors University, the preeminent Competency-Based Education institution
“By failing to prepare, you prepare to fail.”
—Benjamin Franklin, an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary
“To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
—Thomas Paine, an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
—Albert Einstein
“We must be careful not to believe things simply because we want them to be true. No one can fool you as easily as you can fool yourself.”
—Richard Feynman, an American theoretical physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga
“People are generally self-limiting. You just gotta believe in yourself, and try. You gotta try. People can do way more than they think.”
—Elon Musk
“Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You do not have to have a college degree to serve. You do not have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.”
—Frances Hesselbein
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
—Maya Angelou
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”
—Winston Churchill
“A fool’s paradise is a wise man’s hell.”
—Thomas Fuller
“There are a few things that money and fame cannot buy, and education is one of them“
“Parents rejoice when children thrive.”
—Gene Hayes
“El que en casarse acierta en nada yerra.”
—Refrán español
“Libre, y para mí sagrado, es el derecho de pensar. La educación es fundamental para la felicidad social; es el principio en el que descansan la libertad y el engrandecimiento de los pueblos.”
—Benito Juárez
“Free, and sacred to me, is the right to think. Education is essential for social happiness; It is the principle on which freedom and the aggrandizement of peoples rest.”
—Benito Juárez
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
—Jackie Robinson
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
—Nelson Mandela
“Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.”
—Thomas Fuller
“Entre los individuos, como entre las Naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.”
—Benito Juárez
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
—Bill Gates
“Vanity is the greatest seducer of reason: when you are most convinced your work is important, that is when you are most under its spell.”
—Marcus Aurelius
“Master the topic, the message, and the delivery.”
—Steve Jobs
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
—Stephen R. Covey
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
—Mark Twain
“Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“A stumble may prevent a fall.”
—Thomas Fuller
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
—César Chávez
“Individuals who celebrate others’ victories are winners themselves.”
—Gene Hayes
“Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.”
—Ibn Rushd (Averroës)
“The best boss I worked for didn’t work the longest, or the hardest. He didn’t know all the answers. But he cared the most. He wanted us to always keep learning and growing. He removed obstacles blocking our paths and made sure we always felt supported.”
—Daniel Abrahams
“What is my country? Is it the soil, the ethnic ancestry, or the money? No. It’s our people. You and I are America. And so are the people who don’t agree with me, look like me, think like me, or vote like me. To love our country means we must be good to one another, even when we disagree. No, especially when we disagree. Anything less is un-American.”
—Arthur C. Brooks
Selected Media
Presentations, Interviews, Panels, etc.
- “Living in a World Made of Sand,” speech at Ensign College
- Higher Ed Briefing: Upskilling and Reskilling Adult Learners for Utah’s Post-pandemic Workforce
- KSL Studio 5 Interview: Scholarships
- King 5 Segment: WGU Washington is Giving Students Online Access to Higher Education
- Entrevista de Univisión: oportunidades educativas a través de WGU (in Spanish)
- Park City TV: Higher Education in Utah & Western Governors University
- Entrevista de Telemundo: Suazo Business Center y WGU se unen para ofrecer becas universitarias a comunidades desatendidas (in Spanish)
- Ed Up En Español Podcast: “Liderazgo en la Educación Superior.”